ZF Transaxle Safety Wiring Part I

I found that the ZF ring gear bolts were safety wired but poorly done and still using stock bolts.  It's very likely that the bolts were removed, drilled for safety wire, and reinstalled.  Dennis Quella and Lloyd Butfoy both advised to remove the stock bolts, install new special drilled ARP bolts, and safety wire again.  Well, this meant that I was going on an adventure!

I purchased the new bolts, side cover seals, side cover gaskets, bottom cover gasket and side detent cover gasket.  The bolts weren't cheap ($140 for 10!)  I purchased everything through Pantera Performance Center (Dennis Quella) since RBT would not split out the gaskets individually and it was cheaper to just get what I needed through Dennis.  Both Dennis and Lloyd are very knowledgable, willing to talk, and give advice, so I couldn't go wrong either way.

I borrowed an engine stand and mounted the transaxle on it and went to work.

Transaxle mounted in the engine stand.

Bottom cover and side cover removed.  The side axle bearings were in perfect shape and looked like they hadn't been used at all.  All of the studs were relatively free of corrosion.  The paper side cover gasket fell apart when I removed it and really didn't stick to the case at all.  I wish I could say the same about the bottom cover gasket, which will be a mess to remove.

Stay tuned.  I plan to remove the differential, install new ring gear bolts, safety wire the ring gear bolts, clean and paint the side covers & rear cover, clean & paint the case, replace the bottom cover studs with stainless bolts, and clear coat everything after it's assembled.